Journal of Science, Technology and Applied Research is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. The journal follows internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing to ensure transparency, fairness, accountability, and ethical conduct throughout the publication process.

This publication ethics statement applies to all parties involved in the publication process, including authors, editors, reviewers, editorial board members, and the publisher. All submitted manuscripts must be original, accurate, ethically conducted, and free from plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, or any form of research and publication misconduct.

1. Duties of Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the manuscript submitted to the journal is original, has not been previously published, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Authors must present their research findings clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation.

Authors must properly acknowledge the work of others by providing accurate citations and references. Any form of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or redundant publication is considered unethical and unacceptable.

All authors listed in the manuscript must have made significant contributions to the conception, design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the research. Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship should not be listed as authors, but may be acknowledged where appropriate.

Authors are required to disclose any financial, institutional, personal, or other conflicts of interest that may influence the results, interpretation, or presentation of the research. Sources of funding and institutional support must also be clearly stated in the manuscript when applicable.

For research involving human participants, animals, personal data, institutional data, or sensitive information, authors must ensure that appropriate ethical approval, consent, and permissions have been obtained in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and institutional guidelines.

2. Duties of Editors

Editors are responsible for making publication decisions based on the academic quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and contribution of the manuscript to the scope of the journal. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors’ nationality, gender, religion, ethnicity, political views, institutional affiliation, or personal background.

Editors must ensure that every submitted manuscript is treated fairly, confidentially, and objectively. Manuscripts must be evaluated solely on their scholarly merit and relevance to the journal’s focus and scope.

Editors are responsible for selecting qualified reviewers with relevant expertise and for ensuring that the peer-review process is conducted professionally, transparently, and ethically. Editors must avoid assigning reviewers who have conflicts of interest with the authors or the submitted work.

Editors must take appropriate action when ethical concerns, complaints, or allegations of misconduct arise. Such matters must be handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with established publication ethics procedures.

3. Duties of Reviewers

Reviewers play an essential role in maintaining the quality and integrity of the journal. Reviewers are expected to provide constructive, objective, timely, and scholarly evaluations of submitted manuscripts.

Reviewers must treat all manuscripts received for review as confidential documents. They must not share, discuss, use, or disclose any information from the manuscript without permission from the editor.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors and inform the editor of any substantial similarity, overlap, plagiarism, or ethical concern found in the manuscript.

Reviewers must decline the review assignment if they feel unqualified to evaluate the manuscript, are unable to complete the review within the required time, or have any conflict of interest with the authors, institutions, research topic, or funding sources.

4. Peer-Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to Journal of Science, Technology and Applied Research are subject to an initial editorial screening to assess their suitability for the journal’s focus and scope, originality, academic quality, and compliance with author guidelines.

Manuscripts that pass the initial screening will be sent for peer review by qualified reviewers. The journal applies a fair and objective peer-review process to ensure the scientific quality, validity, and relevance of published articles.

The final decision to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript rests with the editor based on reviewers’ recommendations, editorial assessment, and the manuscript’s contribution to the field.

5. Plagiarism and Similarity Check

The journal does not tolerate plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images, data, or results from other sources without proper acknowledgment, as well as presenting another person’s work as one’s own.

All submitted manuscripts may be checked using plagiarism detection software or other similarity-checking methods. Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism, excessive similarity, duplicate publication, or unethical reuse of previous work may be rejected, corrected, retracted, or subjected to further ethical investigation.

6. Research Misconduct

Research misconduct includes, but is not limited to, data fabrication, data falsification, plagiarism, unethical authorship practices, duplicate submission, redundant publication, citation manipulation, image manipulation, peer-review manipulation, and failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

If misconduct is suspected before publication, the editorial team will investigate the matter and may request clarification, supporting data, ethical approval documents, or institutional confirmation from the authors.

If misconduct is identified after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other appropriate notice depending on the severity and nature of the case.

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial board members must disclose any conflicts of interest that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the publication process.

Conflicts of interest may include financial relationships, employment, consultancies, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, academic competition, political interests, or intellectual beliefs related to the submitted manuscript.

Editors and reviewers must not be involved in the evaluation or decision-making process of manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

8. Data Accuracy and Availability

Authors are responsible for the accuracy, validity, and reliability of the data presented in their manuscripts. Data must be reported honestly and transparently.

When necessary, authors may be requested to provide raw data, research instruments, ethical approval documents, or other supporting materials for editorial review. Authors are encouraged to retain research data for a reasonable period after publication and to make data available where appropriate, while respecting privacy, confidentiality, legal, and ethical restrictions.

9. Ethical Oversight

Research involving human participants, animals, personal information, institutional data, legal cases, public policy data, environmental data, or sensitive social and political issues must comply with applicable ethical standards.

Authors must clearly state whether ethical approval was obtained, waived, or not required. Where informed consent is necessary, authors must ensure that consent has been properly obtained from participants or authorized representatives.

The journal reserves the right to reject manuscripts that do not meet appropriate ethical standards.

10. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Authors who use artificial intelligence tools, language models, automated writing tools, data analysis tools, or image-generation tools in preparing a manuscript must disclose their use appropriately.

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors because authorship requires accountability, responsibility, and the ability to approve the final version of the manuscript. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of all content submitted to the journal.

The use of artificial intelligence tools to fabricate data, manipulate results, generate false citations, create misleading images, or conceal plagiarism is strictly prohibited.

11. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. If errors or ethical issues are identified after publication, the journal will take appropriate action based on the nature and severity of the problem.

Minor errors that do not affect the findings or conclusions may be corrected through a correction notice. Serious errors, unreliable findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or proven misconduct may lead to retraction. In cases where an investigation is ongoing or evidence is inconclusive, the journal may publish an expression of concern.

Corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern will be made publicly available to ensure transparency and accountability.

12. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers, readers, and other parties may submit complaints or appeals regarding editorial decisions, peer-review processes, publication ethics, or published content.

All complaints and appeals will be handled fairly, objectively, confidentially, and in a timely manner. The editorial team will review the matter carefully and may consult reviewers, editorial board members, institutions, or relevant experts when necessary.

Appeals against editorial decisions must provide clear academic reasons and evidence. The final decision after appeal rests with the editor-in-chief or the authorized editorial board.

13. Publisher’s Responsibilities

The publisher is responsible for supporting the editorial team in maintaining publication ethics, editorial independence, transparency, and the integrity of the published scholarly record.

The publisher must not interfere with editorial decisions and must ensure that the journal operates according to ethical publishing standards. The publisher also supports the journal in handling ethical concerns, corrections, retractions, complaints, and publication misconduct.

14. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently by the editorial team based on academic merit, relevance, originality, methodological quality, and ethical compliance.

No external party, including sponsors, institutions, government bodies, organizations, or commercial partners, may influence the editorial decision-making process.

15. Copyright and Intellectual Property

Authors must ensure that their manuscripts do not infringe upon the copyright, intellectual property rights, or privacy rights of others.

Any copyrighted material, including tables, figures, images, instruments, software, or substantial text from other sources, must be used with proper permission and acknowledgment where required.

16. Commitment to Ethical Publishing

Journal of Science, Technology and Applied Research is committed to promoting ethical, transparent, responsible, and high-quality scholarly publishing. The journal continuously seeks to improve its editorial policies and publication practices in accordance with internationally recognized standards of publication ethics.

All authors, editors, reviewers, and publishing partners are expected to uphold these ethical principles in order to maintain the credibility, reliability, and integrity of scientific publications.